John Hovey RICE, Congress, ME (1816-1911)

RICE, John Hovey, a Representative from Maine; born in Mount Vernon, Maine, February 5, 1816; attended the common schools; clerk in the office of the register of deeds, Augusta, Maine, 1831-1841; engaged in the mercantile business; deputy sheriff; aide-de-camp to General Bachelor in the “Aroostook War,” the northeastern boundary dispute with Great Britain, in 1838; moved to Piscataquis County, Maine, in 1843; studied law; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Piscataquis County in 1848; prosecuting attorney for Piscataquis County 1852-1860; delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1856; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh, Thirty-eighth, and Thirty-ninth Congresses (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1867); chairman, Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses); declined to be a candidate for renomination; United States collector of customs at the port of Bangor, Maine, 1861-1871; moved to Washington, D.C., where he practiced law for twelve years; thence to New York City in 1884 and practiced until 1899; moved to Chicago, Ill., in May 1899 and remained there until his death on March 14, 1911; interment in Oakwood Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present